The ongoing 8th edition of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup has marked its return after a few years of absences’. The tournament is now at its business end and four out of the seven contesting teams have been finalized for the knockouts that’ll be played on the 13th and 15th of the month (October) at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
India and Pakistan with 5 wins and a defeat of 6 games have advanced to the knockouts seeded 1st and 2nd respectively with net run rates of +3.141 and +1.806. Sri Lanka finished 3rd on the seedings with 4 wins and a couple of defeats and Thailand finished 4th with 3 wins and the same number of defeats in sealing the final spot for the knockout.
India got their tournament underway with a hat-trick of wins against Sri Lanka by 41 runs on an opening day, against Malaysia by 30 runs and against the United Arab Emirates by 104 runs. The side’s hat-trick of wins came to an end following their defeat to Pakistan by 13 runs, but bounced back well against Bangladesh and Thailand to register wins by 59 runs and 9 wickets respectively. India now will meet Thailand in the first semi-final game on the 13th of October, eyeing a final finish.
Semi-Finalists Confirmed for Women’s Asia Cup 2022
🇮🇳India
🇵🇰Pakistan
🇱🇰Sri Lanka
🇹🇭Thailand#CricketTwitter #WomensAsiaCup2022— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 11, 2022
Pakistan got their tournament underway in style with back-to-back 9-wicket wins against Malaysia and Bangladesh. The side then suffered a stunning 4-wicket defeat to Thailand, but in a high-pressure, very next game against India, registered a morale-boosting 13-run win. Pakistan carried on their momentum and are on an unbeaten hat-trick of wins streak following wins against the United Arab Emirates by 71 runs and against Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. The side now will play Sri Lanka in the 2nd semi-final game on the 13th of October.
Sri Lanka didn’t have the best of starts as they lost their opener to India by 41 runs, but did exceedingly well in the following games as they registered wins against the United Arab Emirates by 11 runs, against Thailand by 49 runs and with a 72-run against Malaysia got the hat-trick of wins. The side continued on their momentum and registered a win more against Bangladesh by 3 runs in an intriguing rain-affected game, but lost to Pakistan by 5 wickets in the final league stage game. The side in their semi-final on the 13th of October will have a chance to redeem themselves as they play Pakistan.
Thailand too didn’t have the best of starts as they lost their opening couple of games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by 9 wickets and 49 runs respectively. Thailand got their crucial win streak starting with Pakistan by 4 wickets, then against the United Arab Emirates by 19 runs and joined the list of teams with a hat-trick of wins in the tournament with their win against Malaysia by 50 runs. Thailand lost their final league stage game against India by 9 wickets and with their semi-final scheduled against the same side (India), Thailand stands with a chance to redeem themselves on the 13th of October.
Defending champions, Bangladesh, had their final league stage game against the United Arab Emirates abandoned due to rain and potentially had been a game, Bangladesh for sure had their noses ahead and would have qualified by leaving behind Thailand, but wasn’t to be. With Bangladesh finishing 5th in the seedings, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia finished 6th and 7th respectively. Now that the league stage games are done, below you can have a look at how the points table closes out.
WOMEN’S T20 ASIA CUP POINTS TABLE :
| TEAM | PLAYED | WINS | DEFEATS | NO RESULT | POINTS | NET RUN RATE |
| India | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | + 3.141 |
| Pakistan | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | + 1.806 |
| Sri Lanka | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | + 0.602 |
| Thailand | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | – 0.949 |
| Bangladesh | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | + 0.423 |
| United Arab Emirates | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | – 2.181 |
| Malaysia | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | – 3.002 |